Chief constables are seeking an urgent meeting with the Home Secretary after the head of a police force was abruptly ousted from her job by one of the new breed of political crime commissioners.

Senior police officers are concerned that there are few checks on the powers of the new commissioners, who have begun to flex their muscles in a number of confrontations over the running of local forces.

Carmel Napier, the Chief Constable of Gwent, South Wales, announced her sudden retirement last week after being told by Ian Johnston, the county’s independent police and crime commissioner (PCC), that if